Mac App Store

GarageBand for Mac gains three new Drummers, can now export to MP3 and more

If you're an aspiring musician and a user of Apple's free music-making software for the Mac, you should know there's a new GarageBand update sitting in the Mac App Store.

The free GarageBand version 10.0.2 edition contains multiple enhancements to Accessibility and adds the option to export a song as an MP3 file.

The latter is much welcomed as you were previously required to export songs as QuickTime or some other format and then use iTunes or a similar app to manually convert the digital file into the commonly used MP3 format. There are also some new Drummers, but more on that after the break...

Microsoft’s OneNote hits Mac App Store, available free for a limited time

The rumors were true: Windows giant Microsoft has just released its note-taking app, OneNote, for the Mac.

It's available right now in the Mac App Store free of charge for a limited time and includes a brand new clipper feature akin to Evernote, as well as a host of other capabilities designed to boost your productivity.

OneNote is also available for Android, Windows and Windows Phone devices.

As a result, your notes are platform-agnostic, synchronize across all devices, multiple people can collaborate on them and more. The full reveal is right below the fold.

1Password 4.2 for Mac improves upon 1Password mini, AutoSave and item editing

We're pretty big fans of AgileBits's 1Password for iOS and OS X (Jeff and myself are converts). But why bother with a third-party app when Apple's new iCloud Keychain feature in iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks keeps all your website and app passwords, Wi-Fi logins and credit cards synced?

Lots of reasons, mainly because iCloud Keychain won't sync plenty of personal items like private notes, software serial numbers, bank accounts, passports and what not.

That's where 1Password comes in handy. First and foremost, 1Password uses a robust architecture to ensure that your private data remains private. Apps to manage passwords usually tend to be cumbersome, but that's never been the case with 1Password.

The software has been praised for its sleek interface, rich feature set and handy tools like browser extensions and the 1Password mini app which patiently sits in your Mac's menu bar to make remembering new passwords a hassle-free affair.

AgileBits is now introducing a new edition of 1Password for Mac which further refines the experience of using 1Password mini, the AutoSave feature and item editing. Read on for the full reveal...

realMyst: Masterpiece Edition now available on Mac OS X

Twenty years ago, a mysterious and complex puzzle adventure game won the hearts and minds of PC gamers. The wickedly complex puzzles and deeply involving storyline created millions of fans and spawned a few remakes and an equally complex sequel, Riven.

realMyst was one of the remakes, and features free-roaming 3-D graphics and a few awesome features that make it more game-like and less two-dimensional. The 20th anniversary version of the original game has recently been launched in the Mac App Store under the title realMyst: Masterpiece Edition…

Evernote for Mac gets natural-language searching

Evernote for Mac has expanded on its stock search capabilities by introducing natural-language processing for your queries.

Activated from Evernote’s search bar and dubbed Descriptive Search, the feature allows for descriptive searching across your images, notes, documents, attachments and other data.

With Descriptive Search, Evernote fans can now search their notes by place, file contents, date ranges and lots more. This feature is now live in the new Evernote 5.5, available free of charge in the Mac App Store.

The full reveal is after the jump...

Tweetbot for Mac refreshed with conversation icon, ‘Save Image As’ option

Tapbots has just issued a maintenance update to Tweetbot for Mac which added a pair of feature tweaks and some bug fixes. Tweetbot version 1.4.2, now available as a free update in the Mac App Store, finally allows you to save images from tweets to folders other than the default Downloads folder.

There's also a new conversation icon next to tweets that are a reply to another tweet, which allows for a more visual navigation and helps make sense of your feed.

The full breakdown is after the break...

Mac App Store highlights apps and games that ‘capture what makes Mac so extraordinary’

Unless you haven't been following news today, you're by now aware that this Friday marks the Mac's 30th anniversary. Apple is celebrating the occasion by taking over its own homepage with a nice interactive timeline of all Mac models, along with a cool poll and a heartwarming video to go with it.

The company's Apple Stores are also taking part in the festivities with Mac-themed window displays.

And now, a store of another kind, the Mac App Store, has joined the celebration with a brand new 'Happy Birthday, Mac' section highlighting a cherry-picked selection of free/paid apps and games that "capture the spirit of what makes this computer so extraordinary"...

Tomb Raider reboot hits the Mac App Store

Feral Interactive today released a Mac version of last year's Tomb Raider reboot for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is available exclusively on the Mac App Store starting today and will be coming to Steam on January 30.

A young Lara Croft gets shipwrecked on an uncharted island and... Well, you know the drill. You'll be scavenging the island's vital resources, upgrade Lara’s gear, improving her exploration, combat and survival skills and what not.

In terms of game mechanics, expect a lot of jumping and climbing through dense forests, mountains and WWII bunkers "to discover how an ordinary young woman became Lara Croft"...

Mail Pilot for Mac review: treat emails like to-do tasks

I’ve had my Gmail account since 2005. Prior to that, I used a Hotmail email account for a few years.  I may have had a couple of others in there from time to time. My point is that I’ve been using the same type of email activity for more than a decade. I’ve been using the same email service for nine years straight. Changing the way I do email was never something I thought I’d be interested in.

Mail Pilot for Mac does just that. It changes the way you deal with your email. It’s not one of those dedicated “inbox zero” apps. It is more like a productivity app that happens to use your email as the list of things to do…

New features added to Keynote, Pages and Numbers for iOS/OS X, iMovie gets bug fixes

Apple is on a roll today in terms of software updates. The company has just seeded the third OS X 10.9.2 beta to its registered Mac developers and revamped Pages, Keynote and Numbers on the web (excuse me, iCloud) with a slew of new capabilities, including - finally! - password protection for your iWork documents. Earlier in the day, Apple has managed to post a minor Podcasts app refresh and a bug fix focused update to iMovie for Mac.

And now, new versions of Pages and Numbers for iOS and OS X have arrived plus an enhanced version of Apple's presentation software Keynote with new transitions, improved presenter display options, better Microsoft PowerPoint and iCloud compatibility and more.

These software updates allow for a nice feature parity across Apple's iWork suite of apps on the web, iOS and OS X platforms...

Pixelmator 3.1 brings photo printing, Mac Pro GPU acceleration and more

Pixelmator is my favorite Photoshop replacement and today's 3.1 update code-named Marble brings a new Order Prints feature, full support for the Mac Pro and its dual-GPUs, including 16-bits per channel color image support, a few new effects, a number of improvements for Layer Styles, Type Tool and selections and a whole bunch of other minor refinements and bug fixes. The update is free for those who've purchased the app, a $29.99 download from the Mac App Store...

Task-focused email app Mail Pilot hits Mac App Store

Available as a free public preview since December 3, 2013, Mindsense on Thursday released its Mail Pilot for public consumption in the Mac App Store, priced at $9.99 a pop. Originally a 2012 Kickstarter project, this email application for the Mac promises to change the game by being task instead of email-oriented. What does that mean?

Well, all your messages in Mail Pilot are action-based. For example, Mark as Unread becomes Complete/Incomplete, a message can have a reminder attached to it so you can get notified when it’s time to deal with it, you can Set Aside messages that you want to come back to later (great for Inbox Zero fanatics) and lots more.

This task-oriented approach allows for a more intuitive email that lets you get stuff done faster and get on with your life...